


The Queens of Valla

by WotanAnubis



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/F, Fluff, People Talking to Each Other, Spoilers, post-Revelations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 08:44:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8395057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WotanAnubis/pseuds/WotanAnubis
Summary: In which ruling a new nation isn't always easy.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've wondered why, at the end of Revelations, Xander and Ryoma decide to give up parts of their territory to create a new kingdom basically out of whole cloth.
> 
> This fic is not actually an attempt to answer that question.

Queen Cassandra of Valla sat at her desk in her study. It was a magnificent desk, too large to be practical, but appropriate for someone of her royal stature. And it was still only barely big enough for all the reports spread about its surface.

In essence, they were all the same report. Only the details varied. Nohrian farmer trying to build a new life in Hoshido has his house burned down. Nohrian brigands assault and rob Hoshidan merchants, but leave Nohrian merchants alone. Statues of the Dawn Dragon vandalised. Statues of the Dusk Dragon vandalised. And far, far more drunken bar brawls than usual. It all pointed to the same thing.

Valla wasn't a kingdom. How could it be? Most of it were parts of Hoshido and Nohr ceded by King Ryoma and King Xander for the express purpose founding of the new kingdom. But the Nohrian and Hoshidans who'd lived on the land for decades had been enemies to one another for about as long and hadn't spontaneously transformed into fellow countrymen just because the royals had told them that that's what they now were.

"Dinner'll be ready soon."

Cassandra looked up from her desk and smiled when she saw Rhajat standing in the study's doorway. Technically, she was Queen Rhajat, but she didn't dress like it. She was dressed as she'd always had. Somehow that was comforting.

"Thanks," she replied. "I'll be down shortly."

"I doubt it," Rhajat said bluntly, sauntering into the study. "You've been late every day for weeks now. Last Monday you even took your meal here."

"Sorry," said Cassandra. "I have a lot on my plate."

"If only," said Rhajat. "So what're today's problems?"

"The same old things," said Cassandra. "Friction in the border towns, mostly."

Rhajat stared at her. And not in the creepy, obsessive way Cassandra had come to know and love.

"Oh, yes? Which border towns specifically?"

"Here, I'll show you," said Cassandra said. "Just let me get a... map."

She'd realised her mistake even before finishing her sentence. As she pulled the map towards herself, a number of reports got pushed off the desk and landed unheeded on the carpet. It was a very new map of the Queendom of Valla. And the towns that caused the most trouble were all right in the middle.

"Even I'm doing it, aren't I?" said Cassandra. "These towns _used_ to be on the border between Nohr and Hoshido, but now..."

"Well, you'll be happy to know I've been working on a solution," said Rhajat, as she walked around the desk and came to a stop next to Cassandra's chair.

"Oh? I'd be happy to hear your thoughts."

"Simple. I'd curse the entire population to erase their cultural heritage. No more former Nohrians, no more former Hoshidans. Just Vallites."

"That's completely unethical," Cassandra snapped. "We can't do it."

"I could," said Rhajat. "But unfortunately, I don't have enough power to curse everyone all at once. I'd have to do everyone one at the time. Not a very efficient way of doing things, really."

"It doesn't matter how efficient or inefficient it would be," Cassandra said. "We can't just erase people's pasts. No, we have to get them to see their shared futures."

"You could encourage people to move to Old Valla. Offer land, money, titles for anyone willing to settle there. People from the West and the East would move there and mix and, hopefully, discover they're all people."

Cassandra nodded thoughtfully to herself. 'Old Valla' was a reasonably big chunk of the new map. It was those bits and pieces of Valla that had been drawn back into this reality after Anankos' death. They were the less broken and twisted parts of the Silent Kingdom, but they were still empty, littered with ruins and not... quite... right.

Even so... with the right incentives... there would be plenty of people willing to brave whatever nameless curse they feared might inhabit the land.

"It'd be a start," Cassandra said slowly. "But it wouldn't be enough. I'm pretty sure we'd mostly get No- Western Vallite volunteers. The soil in the West is still poor, so I'm sure lots of people would be eager to for a chance at something better. On the other hand, in the East, the ground is incredibly fruitful, so hardly anyone would have any motivation to take a risk on a broken land."

Cassandra felt Rhajat take a tuft of her hair and roll it around and around in her pale fingers. It was such a tiny, simple gesture, but it still made her feel better. The eternal flood of troublesome reports didn't feel like they were going to swallow her whole any more.

"I'll start work on it tomorrow," Cassandra said. "Free land and titles should be enough to tempt at least _some_ from both sides."

"Good," said Rhajat. "And another thing. It's our wedding anniversary in about five weeks."

"Yes, it is," said Cassandra. It was a very sudden change of topic, but one she was eager to embrace right now. "Do you already have something in mind?"

"I was going to make sure you'd stay in our bed all day," Rhajat said, her eyes sparkling darkly. "But I'm afraid we're going to have to go with something more... public."

"Why do you say that?" Cassandra asked. "Oh. Oh, you mean... make it a public holiday?"

"A grand celebration of the Queens of Valla," said Rhajat, acid dripping from every word. "As the Queens are united, so too should the people be. A feast at the palace. Free food, plenty of free entertainment, a few guards around to make sure the free alcohol doesn't flow _too_ freely."

"Very symbolic," said Cassandra. "And of course, free food and drink are going to get people festive. If people could forget their differences for just a day, maybe it'd be a foundation to start building on."

"Urgh. It's going to be wretched," Rhajat said. "All those crowds. I'm going to hate every second of it."

"I know. I appreciate your sacrifice and I'll be sure to reward you appropriately when the day's over."

"You'd better."

"Maybe we could have games, too," Cassandra went on. "A little tournament of some team sport or other. And of course, only teams with a mix of Western and Eastern Vallites would be eligible to enter and win... whatever the grand prize ends up being. Then again, five weeks may not be long enough to put some decent teams together and train."

"I see it's caught your imagination," Rhajat said.

"Right now, I'm happy to grasp at every straw to come along," Cassandra replied.

"Hmm," said Rhajat, twirling Cassandra's hair in her fingers. "I really wish you'd grow your hair out."

Cassandra chuckled. "I like it short."

"I know. But it'd be nice to just run my hands through your hair just once."

"Tempting, but no."

"Still, we should do something about our looks," said Rhajat.

"'We'?"

"Sure. We don't live in some elegant Hoshidan palace or some looming Nohrian fortress. Our seat of power is a Vallite step pyramid. And yet you're still dressed as a Nohrian noble and I as a Hoshidan diviner. We don't exactly embody the new country either, do we?"

"You have a point. We should hire a tailor to make us something more appropriate. Or maybe ask Oboro. The question is what, though. Vallite fashion is extinct."

"Didn't Queen Arete wear this giant, plumed headdress?" Rhajat said.

"She did and I'm not wearing that," Cassandra replied.

"Just a thought," said Rhajat. "We can talk about it more over dinner."

Cassandra smiled. "That sounds nice. Although..."

"Yes?"

"What kind of royal attire goes well with step pyramids anyway?"


End file.
